Shattered Heart
by lackam
Summary: A limeric reminds Erestor of a cruel and sad past.


Title: Shattered Heart

Author: amber

Beta: Oli

Rating: PG

Characters: Elrond, Erestor, Celebrían

Disclaimer: I am only borrowing Tolkien's works.

Notes: Screw Yule - Day 6 – Poet? You Know It

Summary: Erestor suffers from a cruel limerick.

"Look at Erestor, look at him there,"

"He is the one with the mousy eyes and hair,"

"He acts high and mighty, as if he walks on air,"

"It is to more than elflings he gives a scare."

"To you I say get close to him, I dare."

Erestor sighed as he overheard the limerick being chanted by the elflings while they played in the garden. Elrond gave him a sympathetic smile as he rose and closed the balcony doors which had been left open to let in the cool breeze. The limerick had been first sung by a suitor he had scorned but had persisted over the years until few remembered the reasons behind it. It popped up now and again whenever Erestor did something someone greatly disliked. He briefly wondered what had happened to trigger this round of torment.

"Forgive them, Erestor," Elrond began. "They little ones know not the story behind the limerick. They just like the rhyme."

"You know as well as I that it was not an elfling that started it," he responded. "I know and I expect to hear it nowadays. I have but to upset someone in the valley for the limerick to start making the rounds again."

"I will have it stopped," Elrond commented, thinking he was helping.

"No, let it go. It will die down in a few days," he said. "It is better for them to think it does not bother me, although I would like knowing who reminded them of it."

Elrond just shook his head as he returned to work.

Later that night as he prepared for bed, Elrond decided to broach the subject with his wife.

"The limerick about Erestor is going around again," he commented to her.

"I know, I started it," his wife answered amused. "I think it is so fitting. He can be such a prig sometimes."

Shocked by her comment Elrond decided to set her straight.

"It is cruel and uncalled for," he scolded her. "Every time he hears it, he is reminded of the one who wrote it, a scorned suitor. The elf finally went so far as to try and force Erestor against his will one night when he was in his cups."

"I am sorry, I did not know that," Celebrían commented shocked. "Why did he refuse the elf?"

"You do know he is already bound do you not?" Elrond replied in surprise to her question.

"What? Since when?" she asked in surprise.

"Erestor married shortly after he reached his majority," he explained. "He comes from Ost-in-Edhel. He lost his wife and son when Sauron attacked."

"I never knew," she said.

"He does not talk about it," he told her. "It still pains him greatly. Especially when you consider the fact that one of the orcs he killed during the Last Alliance turned out to be his son."

"How horrible," she exclaimed as she realized that the rumors of orc origins were true.

"When the valley was young, there was a young warrior who came here to live from Mirkwood," Elrond began as he decided to tell her the whole story in an effort to have her help in stopping the limerick from being sung. "Thranduil asked me to take him in after some trouble there. I agree to give him a second chance and assigned him to Glorfindel. He seemed to fit in well and there was no trouble at first. Then he decided he wanted my chief counselor for his own as it would give him status. Erestor, needless to say, did not want him in return. As far as I know, he never told the elf that he was bound to another; just that he was not interested. He kept his sorrows to himself. The warrior persisted and it became so bad that Erestor began hiding in his rooms. When I told him to confront the elf, he agreed. Erestor chose to confront him publicly at dinner the following night so all would know he was not interested in being courted by any."

"That must have been cruel," Celebrían said as she sympathized with the poor Mirkwood elf.

"He deserved it as he stood up at meal and announced that he and Erestor were binding in one month," Elrond told her. "He was trying to force Erestor's hand without knowing all of the facts. The warrior was a shameless status climber; it was what had gotten him into such trouble before in Mirkwood. You need to give Erestor a little credit. All he did was stand up after the announcement and proceed to tell everyone that he would not be binding in a month and that he would never bind with one so low. He then proceeded to leave the hall and return to his rooms."

"What happened?" his wife asked carefully.

"Glorfindel waited until Erestor was out of hearing to stand up and berate the elf in front of everyone. It seems that he had been ordered to leave Erestor alone by Glorfindel several days earlier. It wasn't until several mornings later that we realized the full consequences of everyone's actions that night. When Erestor didn't show up for work by the second day, I sent Glorfindel out to find him. Two days later, after a massive hunt, we found him tied to a bed in an abandoned hut in the hills. The Mirkwood elf was on top of him trying to rape him. Glorfindel pulled him off and threw him across the room where several of his guards proceeded to beat the youngling up."

"But Erestor was saved right?" she asked.

"Not exactly," Elrond continued. "He had already retreated into himself and begun the process of abandoning his hoar. In an act of desperation, because he felt responsible, Glorfindel bonded to him to pull him back."

"But you said Erestor was already bonded?" she exclaimed in confusion.

"He was," he continued. "When he regained consciousness and realized what had been done, he tried to reject the bond. Glorfindel somehow convinced him not to. I believe that Glorfindel has promised to go back to the halls so that Erestor's first bond can be honored once we sail."

"But that is unfair to Glorfindel," she remarked.

"Since coming, Mithrandir has led me to believe that the Valar are aware of the true situation and will resolve it somehow upon all of our arrivals," he answered.

"What did you do to the Mirkwood elf?" she wanted to know.

"I did not trust myself to judge him as Erestor is one of my friends," he replied. "Celeborn was visiting and dictated that the elf had a choice. He could either be banished for life from the Elvish realms or be escorted to the Havens and sail on the next ship. He chose banishment and the last word we had of him was that he headed east after the Avari denied his request to live with them."

"I did not know any of this, I am sorry," she said after thinking about what she had been told. "I will do what I can to stop the limerick from ever being sung again."

"I knew I could count on you," Elrond said as he picked her up and threw her on the bed before launching himself after her. "Now hush and attend to me."

The next day a smiling Celebrían set about erasing the previous limerick by teaching the elflings a new one.

"Our Lord was once a great warrior of might,"

"He instead chose the path of a healer making his soul light,"

"He is known to see far for he has the sight,"

"He married Galadriel's silver daughter without a fight"

"But it is his fault that she walks around always looking a fright."


End file.
